Harness-board for jacquard looms



(No Model.)

W. G. NORTHUP.

. HARNESS BOARD FOR JAGQUARD LOOMS. No. 373,151. Patented Nov. 15,1887.

vvvvvvvv N. PETERS. Phmn-Ulhognohu, W-lihingion, w. c.

UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. NORTHUP, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

HARNESS-BOARD FOR JACQUARD LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,151, dated November15, 1887.

Application filed March 21, 1887. Serial No. 231,626. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM G. NORTHUP, acitizen of the United States,and a resident of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, and State ofMinnesota, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inHarness-Boards for. Jacquard Looms, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the-ac companying drawings.

In the Jacquard loom there is used a contrivance which is known tothetrade under the various names of harness-board, compart-board, orcombenboard, the purpose or function of which is to guide theindependent threads of the harness each to its respective warp-thread.In the form generally used this thread-guide has been composed simply ofa thin narrow wooden board of a-length equal to the width of the loomand provided with a series of thread-holes arranged in parallel seriestransversely of the board. This construction is defective. It lacksadjustability, is not durable, and breaks the harnessthreads. A newboard has to be substituted with every change in the reed. The reedvaries in number of splits to the inch, ranging from seven to thirty, ormore, according to the number of warp-threads required for the variouskinds of work. The harnessboard series of thread-guides must conform inspacing or number of series to the inch to the splits in the reed. Tomake a change, the threads must all be untied and withdrawn from the 01dboard, inserted in the new, and retied. This is tedious and consumesmuch valuable time. The harnessthreads also quickly wear out theharness-board- Drawing, as the outside threads do, at an acute anglefrom the Jacquard head, they wear into the edges of the holes, and in ashort time will entirely out out the wood intervening between twoadjacent series of perforations. The wood also wears out the-threads,rubbing, roughening, and breaking them. The threads will catch on thesharp edges of the wornchannels and break, especially with changes inthe dryness or moisture of the threads and the wood. Individua'l threadsare therefore constantly breaking, and attention is all the timerequired to keep them in repair. The same board can only be used for acomparatively short time, even for the same kind of work.

' guide for Jacquard harness, as is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and hereinafter fully described and particularly claimed.

In the drawings, like letters referring to like parts throughout, Figure1 is a plan view of a portion of a harness-board constructed inaccordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same,showing a side elevation of one of the glass pieces containing a seriesof thread-guides. Fig. 3 is a crosssection of one of the glass piecesthrough the diameter of one of the thread-guides. Fig. 4 is a plan, andFig. 5 an end view, of a modification; and Fig. 6 is aplan, and Fig. 7 acrosssection, of another modification of the threadguide.

A A are the top and side bars of the threadguide frame. Taken togetherwith the end cross-pieces (not shown) and the tie-bolts D, they make upmy harness-board frame. The vertical side plates, A, are cut away, asshown at a, on their interior faces, forming continuous shoulders orseats for the glass threadguides. The top or cap plates, A, aredetachably connected, by set-screws or otherwise, to the side pieces,A',with one edge overlapping the ends of the thread-guides.

D is a draw-bolt which serves to hold the side rails, A, from springingapart and to clamp the threadguides firmly in their proper position.

- B is apiece of molded or pressed glass, about one-fourth of an inchthick, one-half to fiveeighths inch in depth, and some live or six.

inches in length. On one face of this glass piece B are av series ofvertical semicircular grooves, b, of which there should be as many asare ever required for the largest single transverse series of Jacquardharness-threads. 1' preferably make mine of twelve.

O is a removable backing or filling, which may be of any suitablematerial-as thin strips of card-board or woodcut of like length andwidth with the glass pieces. Of these any suitable number are usedbetween each adjacent pair of glass pieces B as may be required toadjust the thread-guides in conformity with ICO any given reed. Thegrooves b are cut deeper into the glass at the bottom than they are atthe top, as shown in Fig. 8.

In the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7, I make the glass piece Fexactly like the piece B of Figs. 1, 2, and 3, except that I cut it awayon the lower half, confining the grooves fto the upper half of the glasspiece. In the form shown in Fig. 4 the glass piece is made of twopieces, each of which is in cross-section a truncated pyramid, and eachof which is provided on one face with a series of similarly spaced andsized parallel grooves. These pieces are placed together, the base ofone to the top of the other, all the parts corresponding and coinciding,and the two half-grooves, one half from each piece E and E, togethermake a circular perforation, e, as shown. This gives an opening which isperfectly exact and true.

I make my glass pieces in one or the other of these ways, because it isthe only practicable plan of obtaining a smooth groove or perforationthrough or in a glass body. These glass pieces should be thin enough toconform in number to the inch, when set in the harnessboard frame, tothe finest reed. The adjustment to the coarser reeds is then only amatter of putting in additional strips of the removable filling orbacking 0. Care should also be taken to have these glass pieces eX-acllystraight-edged and of exactly equal length. A series of these glasspieces B are set edgewise on the seats a, adjacent to each other, orwith filling, G, between the same. The top plate, A, is then screwedfast to the side bars, A. The draw-bolts D (of which there should beseveral) are tightened, clamping the glass pieces tightly in theirrespective positions, and the harness-board is ready to receive theharness-threads. This once done, both the harness-board and theharness-thread last indefinitely. The threads have no wearing effectwhatever on the glass and the glass has no perceptible wearing orroughening effect on the threads; or at most the wearing effect isreduced to a minimum, and there is no catching of the threads, and henceno breakage whatever. The longitudinal adjustment to make theharness-board conform to a change of reeds is readily effected by takingout part or all of the filling, G, and pushing the glass pieces 13nearer together, or pushing them apart and inserting more stripsoffilling, and the transverse adjustment is effected by simply using moreor less of the grooves b, as required. This is all done without untyingor taking out the harness-th reads, and thus a great saving of time ismade. I have had the form of thread-guide shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 incontinuous use for several months and find that it works most admirably,conclusively establishing all the foregoing statements as positivefacts.

IVhat Iclaim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows 1. A harness-board for Jacquard looms, having aseries of independent glass sections,each provided with a single seriesof grooves or thread-guides, and spacing means for adjusting them todifferent positions in respect to each other, substantially asdescribed.

2. A harness-board for Jacquard looms,having a series of independentglass sections provided with vertical grooves, which serve asthread'guides, and removable backings between them, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination, with a harness-board frame, of a series ofindependent glass threadguides, each provided with a single series ofWILLIAM G. NORTHUP.

In presence of- EMMA F. ELMORE, J. F. WILLIAMSON.

